Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce Mr. Russell Neudorf, the deputy minister of the Department of Transportation; to my right, Mr. Paul Guy, the assistant director of airport programs and standards, Department of Transportation; and, Ms. Janis Cooper, legislative counsel for the Department of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, the work continues to go ahead on the Bear River bridge. We did some early design work. We have done some early scoping and costing of the area. We have also had several meetings with the community to talk about the actual location of where this bridge can be accommodated. These meetings were very well attended. There was some good discussion. We feel that we are quite comfortable, along with the community, as to the actual site of the bridge. We have hired a company to do some pricing on this project. Some early costing has shown that this bridge will more than likely...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is always good to get a compliment on some of the work and initiatives we have done in the different areas of the North. We have certainly put a lot of effort in the Sahtu. We have been working this year, I think, in the Sahtu region. We are working on two fairly large projects in terms of bridging. Big Smith and Little Smith creeks, those will be going ahead. We started doing some of the initial work this past year. We will continue to do that. The cost factor is a concern. Our prices are coming in fairly high. We are looking at ways that we...
Mr. Speaker, the money included in the budget is money identified on a cost-shared basis through agreements with the federal government. There were a number of projects that were included in our submission called Corridors for Canada. There was also the Strategic Highway Infrastructure Program and other agreements signed with the federal government. Some of these were earmarked for specific areas. In the case of the bridging program and the Mackenzie Valley roads, it was to deal with some of the resource development pressures. We had included the Tuk to Inuvik stretch of road in our...
Madam Chair, I don’t believe any of our acts spell out a formal process to appeal any infractions under this bill. There is, of course, the standard procedure, as in the highway act. If you don’t feel you were treated fairly, you could go to the staff, you could go to the senior management, or you could go to the Minister. If it’s a traffic ticket that is issued, then you can appeal it through the court system. There is a legal process. We don’t have it spelled out, written anywhere in that respect, but neither do any of our other bills lay that out in a step-by-step manner.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of gravel in the community of Tuktoyaktuk and the source of gravel has been a long-standing one that the community has raised on a number of occasions and the department has been looking at for a long time now. In the 1990s, they were able to construct a kilometre road and there is still another 22 kilometres that have to be constructed. We did have several meetings with the community and members of the community over the last while to discuss this issue. We looked at different ways that we could try to fast track some of this with the federal...
Madam Chair, the act is fairly clear on the accountability process. There are a number of ways to enforce a lot of the stuff; whether it’s through the enforcement officers or through the Minister’s authority. Also, we have to remember that a lot of these lands that fall under the airport jurisdiction also are within the city. We follow very closely with the zoning requirements. We also require our leases to have permits that are issued from the city. So we have a number of ways, checks and balances, that we ensure that the proper rules are followed.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I already offered to do that. I'd be willing to sit with the Member and the leadership of the Tlicho to discuss this. There are a number of concerns that come to the forefront, and we have relayed this to the Member. The contractors have raised the issue of us going into an area where they could go as private contractors. There is land jurisdiction that is a concern. Anything off of our highway right-of-way is a jurisdiction that could possibly be federal land, or it could be Commissioner's land. We need authorization to go onto that land. We may...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, that is quite outside this bill. However, we don’t look after the CARS contract anymore. That responsibility is through NAV Canada. They have gone to a private company to administer this program. So that responsibility is no longer ours.
If they don't want to go out on the land, ask them to go. If they're the problem, take them on the land with you. It's just too big of a problem to keep ignoring. Kids nowadays have a whole world of opportunity in front of them, a whole world. If they want to go to school, they can be anything they want and this government will support them. I've seen that firsthand. As long as you don't apply 24 hours too late.
---Laughter
Those out there that supply the alcohol and drugs to these young children, you've got to be ashamed of yourself. I'm real curious to know what the view from the bottom...